Bulgaria's nomad permit does have a fixed income bar

Guides· 29 September 2026· by NomadYou Guides

In August Forbes ran a piece on why Bulgaria's digital nomad visa is worth considering, and said there does not appear to be a fixed income threshold. There is one. It has been in the Law on Foreigners since June 2025, the rules for applying have been in force since 20 December 2025, and the figure most guides quote is probably not it.

What the law actually says

The permit was created by the Act amending the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (Закон за чужденците в Република България, ZChRB). The 51st National Assembly adopted it on 18 June 2025 and it was published in the State Gazette, issue 52 of 27 June 2025. You can read it in the Gazette itself: dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=235575.

Three provisions do the work:

• A new ground for long-stay residence. Article 24(1) gains point 23, which covers foreigners who “are digital nomads” (са дигитални номади).
• A new Article 24с. The permit is issued if, on top of the general conditions, the applicant proves an average annual income of not less than 50 minimum monthly wages under Bulgarian law “for the preceding calendar year”. Gross income is what counts. The permit lasts one year and can be extended once, for one more year.
• A definition, in point 36 of the Additional Provisions. It covers three kinds of applicant: someone employed by an employer established outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland; an owner, director or partner holding more than 25% of such a company; and an independent professional who has supplied remote services for at least a year before applying. The last two may not work for, or supply services to, anyone in Bulgaria.

Forbes says the visa “is not officially called a digital nomad visa - it is called a Type D visa”. The law does use the name “digital nomads”. What you end up holding is a long-stay residence permit (разрешение за продължително пребиваване). The type D visa is how you enter Bulgaria to apply for it.

The number

Forbes: “there doesn’t appear to be a fixed threshold, but €25,000-€30,000/year is the ideal minimum”. It then cites Euronews for the 50-wage rule and a minimum wage “currently around €620”.

That is two mistakes. The first is calling the threshold not fixed. A multiple of a published wage is a fixed rule, and it is the same kind of rule Portugal and Spain use. Officials do not use it at their discretion: the implementing regulation requires proof of it, both when you first apply and when you renew.

The second is the wage. The law measures against the minimum wage for the preceding calendar year, and €620 is the 2026 figure. The Bulgaria page reads the law as using the 2025 wage, BGN 1,077 (€550.66 at the fixed conversion rate). That gives €27,533 a year, about €2,294 a month. The 2026 wage would give €31,010, which is the figure most secondary guides print.

The Bulgarian wording can also be read as describing the income, not the wage: your income over the preceding year. No official English guidance settles which reading is right. That is why the row is graded medium, and why a reader close to the line should ask the mission before relying on the lower figure. The bottom of Forbes’s range, €25,000, is below the bar on either reading.

What you file

The Council of Ministers wrote the procedure into the implementing regulation by Decree No. 286 of 12 December 2025, published in State Gazette issue 109 of 16 December 2025: dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=239936. It took effect three days after publication, on 20 December 2025. The programme was therefore law from June 2025, but could only be applied for from 20 December.

The new Article 32г of the regulation asks for the general residence documents in Article 14(1), points 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Point 5 — the ordinary “sufficient means” proof at minimum-wage level — is left out, because the 50-wage test replaces it. The decree names those points by number and does not reprint them. Then, depending on which kind of applicant you are:

• Employees: the employment contract, or another document from the employer, showing the parties, your position, your pay and the term. Also a registry document proving the employer exists, no more than six months old. If the contract is fixed-term, the law requires it to run at least as long as the permit.
• Owners and partners: a company registry document, no more than six months old, showing who owns the capital. Also at least one contract and a reference from a recipient of your remote services.
• Freelancers: at least one contract and a reference from a client, showing the services were supplied entirely remotely and for how long.

Foreign documents must be apostilled or legalised, depending on the country they come from, and translated into Bulgarian. The residence application goes to the Migration Directorate or a regional migration unit of the Interior Ministry; the decree does not say you have to hand it in yourself.

What it does not do

It runs for two years at most: one year, plus one extension. The Bulgaria page grades its permanent residence pathway No for that reason. Long-term residence needs five years, and this permit cannot get you there by itself. That grade has not yet been checked against the residence statute, and the page says so.

Forbes has the rest broadly right. The permit lasts a year and can be renewed once, the work has to come from outside Bulgaria, and you start at a consulate. Its list of documents is also close to the regulation’s. The threshold is the part a reader would budget around, and on that the law is clearer than the article.

Everything above is taken from the two State Gazette texts, read in Bulgarian. Article 14(1)’s numbered points are named by the decree and not reprinted there; this page does not invent their wording. The wage figures come from the Bulgaria page. The comparison tool converts the bar into your currency. If a mission is applying the 2026 wage, tell us.

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